


Just This Once (The Everybody Lives Remix)

by Dira Sudis (dsudis)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Fix-It, Gen, Happy Ending, References to Child Death, Teamwork, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-08 11:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18622231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dsudis/pseuds/Dira%20Sudis
Summary: A way it could have happened.





	Just This Once (The Everybody Lives Remix)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a remix of TheRussoBros & MarvelStudios' fic, "Avengers: Endgame." I kiiiind of went past the remix limits on changing stuff, but hopefully they won't be too mad about what I did with their fic--theirs will get way more kudos and hits anyway! :)
> 
> Thanks to miriad for beta!

When they've all had enough time to steady their hands after finding out about Natasha, Tony and Bruce and Rocket head over to the containment chamber holding the stones, awaiting a gauntlet to set them in.

Rocket grimaces and holds up his small hand. "Glad I'm out of the running for putting the gauntlet on. I still have nightmares sometimes about what it felt like, trying to channel that power."

Bruce and Tony turn identical--very different-looking, but identical in every meaningful way--frowns on him, then glance at each other, at the stones, and back to Rocket.

"You actually channeled the Power Stone?" Bruce asks.

"Yeah," Rocket says with a shudder. "Well, no, Quill really did the channeling, because his dad was a god or something. Me and Gamora and Drax were just... buffer, I guess. Kept it from tearing him apart by spreading the load across all four of us."

Tony frowns more deeply. "I wonder if we can build in some of that in--keep whoever wears it from getting fried like Thanos did, then we could--"

"No," Bruce says. "No, I don't think that's where we build in a buffer, Tony."

Tony and Rocket both stare at him; Bruce is still staring at the stones, then turns to Tony. "Look," Bruce says. "We've run into this before, haven't we? We meant to save the world, but we were one or two people deciding for everyone, and we got a murder robot and a lot of people died. You said it yourself, back during that thing with the Accords. Nobody should be unchecked. No one person should be wielding the power of the stones, not even with the best of intentions."

Tony frowns. "But they have to be together, to do what we need to do."

"Yeah," Bruce says, "Yeah, they have to be _together_ , but that still doesn't mean putting them in one person's hands. Six stones, six people. Spread the load, like Rocket said."

"Problem there is," Clint says, and all three of them jerk and look to see him perched on the edge of the travel stage they'd used for the time heist. "You gotta get six people to be as focused on the thing they want as one person would be. Six strong people, strong enough to make it work, it'd be pretty hard to get them all pointed in one direction."

They all, even Clint, look around and find Steve sitting on the floor by Thor. Thor's got Mjolnir in his lap; Steve's shield is leaning against his leg. 

"Six people," Steve says meditatively, not even bothering to pretend he couldn't hear them from across the room. "They'd have to be people who are used to all pulling together, cooperating for a common goal. You'd need a team."

Thor snorts and slaps Steve's thigh before he stands. "Well, since we haven't got one of those, it will have to be us."

* * *

They need a sixth, still. It should have been Natasha; none of them say it, and the silence is deafening. But still: they need a sixth.

Rocket un-volunteered in no uncertain terms when they gathered the others and laid out the new possible plan, and now Nebula is scowling at nothing while Scott looks panicked and Rhodey solemn. 

"I... could..." Scott starts. 

Rhodey huffs and rolls his eyes. "Not you, Lang. A suit's some protection, that'll keep me from fry--"

He halts awkwardly, looking at Clint.

"I honestly don't care if I fry to a crisp," Clint says quietly. "Long as we get it done first."

"Yes, well, making sure those things happen in the correct order is _a little_ important," Tony says. "I can fix something up for you. We just need to put something together for all six of us to hold on to, then, and we can--"

"No," Steve says, quiet but firm, cutting Tony off. Tony glares, but Steve picks his head up and says, "We have to decide what it is we're doing. Because we all have to be absolutely clear on wanting the same thing, or this doesn't work. If we're not of one mind on this--best case scenario, nothing happens, worst case we tear ourselves apart trying to do six different things."

Tony is leaning in, furious. "We already know what we're doing. We're bringing everyone back."

"Everyone?" Steve says, staring down at his hands. "Or just everyone who died in the first second?"

"I don't know if we can wholesale resurrect _everyone who's died in the last five years,_ Rogers--"

"Say what you mean, Stark," Thor cuts in. "What did Steven promise you?"

Tony grinds his teeth for the length of a couple of hard breaths, then says, "We get them back. We fix it. But we don't give up what we've got."

"You mean you don't," Clint says. "You mean you don't give up your daughter."

"Yes, and every other baby born in the last five years, for starters," Tony says.

"You mean," Bruce says, and Tony twists to glare at him, betrayed, "that it would actually be better for everyone if we use the stones to make it so Thanos never snapped his fingers, and we all know it would, but you think that what's gained outweighs what's lost."

"Okay," Tony says harshly. "Yeah. That's what I'm saying. My kid doesn't get rewound out of existence, and neither do all the other kids, and neither does everything else people have built and done in the last five years."

"I don't know about the last five years," Steve says, head bowed again, eyes on his hands. "I'm thinking more about the first five days." 

Bruce, Clint, and Thor all look grim and knowing at that. Even Rhodey winces, and shoots Tony an apologetic sideways look.

" _What?_ " Tony snaps at him. "Are _you_ going to tell me you're fine with your goddaughter never having existed?"

"You weren't here," Rhodey says quietly, shaking his head. "Those first days after, while you were still in space with--" 

He glances around. "Hey, where's Nebula?"

"I'll go find her," Rocket says, taking his chance to escape this conversation that he is, thankfully, not obligated to contribute anything to. Scott hurries off with him, with barely a backward glance. 

Rhodey refocuses on Tony, who is still scowling. "Yes, yes, I was lost in space waiting to die, and you--"

"We were dealing with three billion people suddenly vanishing from the Earth," Rhodey overrides him. "The first day it was the plane crashes, the people dying in hospitals when doctors and nurses vanished out of surgeries and emergency rooms, the car accidents. We were still in Wakanda at that point, and there wasn't so much collateral damage visible right around us--their tech held up pretty well. The rest of Africa, the rest of the world?" Rhodey shakes his head.

"And then there was the second day, and the third day, and the fourth day," Steve says without looking up. "The fourth day was when we stopped finding crying babies."

Tony jerks physically, going pale as he stares at Steve.

"The ones Morgan's age had a shot, at least," Clint says levelly. "They could find food and water for themselves if they were somewhere it was available, or yell for help, or walk somewhere. Not great, but if they could walk, they had a shot. But the ones who couldn't get out of their cribs or car seats..."

Tony's eyes close. "Stop," he whispers.

"Do you know what it smells like," Thor puts in. "When you walk into a nursery on the fourth day after the parents have disappeared? Do you know how much you have to drink to forget the little--"

" _STOP!_ " Tony screams, shooting to his feet, trembling. The others look up at him, united in grim memory.

"I can't," Tony starts to say, but Rhodey tugs him down to his seat and keeps his hand on Tony's shoulder.

"You gonna bring all those parents back, Tony? The ones whose kids died without them? You gonna bring back the pilots whose planes crashed and the surgeons whose patients died? You think that's gonna make everything _better_?"

"It will," Tony starts to say, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. "At least--"

"The point is," Steve says. "With the stones, we have the power to do _anything_. Shouldn't we be aiming higher than that?"

Tony draws a rough breath that's nearly a sob, and that's when the screaming starts from somewhere down the hall.

* * *

Steve gets there first, Thor lagging a little behind, but Steve hesitates, and Thor doesn't. It's the hammer that knocks Nebula back from throttling Rocket, while Scott lies bleeding on the floor.

"What," Steve demands, staring.

"That wasn't our girl," Rocket says, rubbing his throat. "Rhodes--where's Rhodes--"

Rhodey catches up then, he and Tony bringing up the rear of the charge. They stop short, stunned, at the sight of Nebula pinned to the wall, the hammer embedded in her chest. Sparks crackle around it, but she doesn't move. Her blood is dark blue. 

"What," Rhodey says. "What did--"

"Were you ever separated?" Rocket demands, getting to his feet with an effort. "Did anything strange happen? Did she say anything about the Nebula from 2014 being anywhere around, for instance?"

"Yeah," Rhodey says, his gaze jumping from Nebula, dead, to Scott on the floor with Clint kneeling over him checking his pulse and breathing, back to Rocket. "Yeah, she told me Thanos was there, and she and Gamora were with him."

"Yeah, well," Rocket points a small clawed finger at Nebula. "The wrong one came back. I should've noticed sooner, but there was all the," Rocket gestures vaguely back toward the lab. "But she flipped out when we asked her what she was doing, and somewhere between her knocking him out and her trying to kill me, I realized. That's not our girl."

"Where," Rhodey says, his gaze settling on Nebula's body. "Where _is_ our girl, then."

"2014," Rocket says. "With Thanos. Good news, I guess the timeline didn't get broken. Bad news, that probably means he reprogrammed her into the old version and she's just gonna live out this loop forever."

* * *

Thanos is scowling at the immobilized Nebula, who is twitching slightly. "What else does she know?" He demands. "Why hasn't my daughter opened the way for us? Was this some trap?"

Nebula smiles a little as the scan intensifies, yet more power rushing through her, and then the overload point is reached. She gives one hard, convulsive jerk and dark blue blood gushes form her mouth.

" _NO!_ " Thanos roars, immediately grabbing at the machinery, determined to rebuild her. But Nebula is dead, the first victim of Thanos's quest, five years after she saw him die after he'd completed it.

* * *

Rhodey slips away while the others are attending to Scott, dealing with Nebula's body, running scans to check for any sabotage she might have had time to commit. 

He doesn't go far--he's watching Tony hunch over a monitor as he brings his phone to his ear and says, "Pepper, hey. I think you need to know what's going on here."

* * *

They split up, agreeing in exhausted mumbles to think things over and agree on the plan in the morning. Rhodey tugs Tony away, Rocket plants himself by Scott to make sure he keeps breathing all night, and the rest of them, after an exchange of guarded looks, wander back out to the dock, none of them quite walking beside any of the others.

They sit in silence as the darkness falls, four of the six who are going to put their hands to the Stones to try to save the universe tomorrow.

"If we can get Tony on board," Steve says after a while, from where he sits with his back on a post, looking down into the water. "You think we can really pull it off? Turn back time to before it happened, for everybody but us?"

There's a weary silence from the others, and finally Clint says, "We have to. It's the only way to make things right."

Steve looks over at him through the darkness. Clint is huddled up arms wrapped around knees, trying to look small, or maybe trying to conserve heat. Steve's gaze on him is thoughtful and soft. 

"Things like the first five days?" Steve asks. "Or things like the last few years?"

The gleam of Clint's eyes winks out as he squeezes his eyes shut. "I almost wish that wouldn't get undone," Clint says, low. "I killed those people for reasons. They were... pretty decent reasons, probably. And if we undo it, they all come back, and my kids come back, and my wife comes back. I bring it all back, fix all of it. But I'm still the guy who did it. And I gotta decide whether to let that guy back in the house where my kids sleep."

Bruce shifts toward him a little, and the dock creaks under the movement of his weight. "Do you think you won't be able to mean it? To really want it?"

"No, I..." Clint blows out a breath. "Be a nice problem to have, right? If they're back, if it's all put right, then what happens to me is..." Clint shakes his head. "No. I can do it. One thing I can do, it's hold my aim on target."

"My aim has always been true," Thor says, turning a bottle in his hands but not drinking from it. "As long as I was sure what my target was."

Steve makes a soft sound of agreement; the other two look only wary. 

"You're the one who started this," Clint says to Steve. "You said we gotta do this rewind. Now you're thinking something else?"

"No," Steve says, then shakes his head, his resolved expression twisting. "I mean--I know, I know, five years, right before the Snap, that's the point when we can be sure of putting the most of it right. One place, one time, we can stop Thanos for sure. Go back any further and it only gets more complicated. I _know_ that. I just..."

"My heart tells me, we would only have to go back a little further," Thor says, taking up Steve's thread smoothly, in perfect agreement. "Just weeks, and I could save my brother. Heimdall. So many of my people, when we were already so few. But then--why not further? A few weeks before that, we could save Asgard. Years, and I could save my mother after all."

"Go back further than that," Steve agrees. "Stop Schmidt, stay alive somehow, make sure no one misuses the Tesseract and brings all of this to Earth. And once I'd done that... I'd be home. Go find Buck before HYDRA ever got their hands on him, keep that date with Peggy... live the life I was supposed to have."

"My mother--" Thor's voice cracks, and he pauses, rolling the bottle between his palms, so that it glints in what little light there is. "My mother told me. Everyone fails. And we all fail at being the men we think we're supposed to be. The only way we can succeed is to let that go, and be the men we are now."

Steve tilts his head back. "Here, and now. No going back."

"No going back," Thor agrees, and after another second, offers the bottle to Steve, who opens it and drinks deeply. He offers it back to Thor, who raises one hand and shakes his head.

"No going back further than five years," Bruce puts in. "We're still going back that far, right?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," Steve says quickly, as Thor says, "Yes, yes, obviously." 

They all fall silent again, until Thor turns to Bruce. "What of you, my friend? Do you doubt your ability to put your heart and mind into the plan?"

Bruce laughs a little. "Well, I spent a lot of time making my heart and my mind play nicely together. I don't have any big doubts, not like you guys, not really. Although it's... it's been nice, being somebody people on Earth recognize, but aren't afraid of? If the Snap never happens... I don't know if it'll be like that again. But going back to being nobody, it's not that scary. I get to bring the best thing I got out of this back with me."

He touches his hand to his chest, indicating his meaning very clearly. The six of them, those who save the universe--time won't turn back for them. They alone will remember these five years and all they held.

"Which brings us back to making sure Stark's shooting straight," Clint says heavily. "All of us, we can be pretty sure we won't waver over this stuff, but Stark--no matter how hard he tries, it's not gonna be easy to keep his hand steady when he knows what he's doing to his little girl."

* * *

Tony's sitting in a chair by the window, staring out, and Rhodey's giving him space, saying nothing, when there's a knock at the door. Happy pokes his head in, glancing around cautiously, then steps back and lets Pepper come through, Morgan asleep in her arms.

"No," Tony breathes, rising. "No, I can't, I--Rhodey, why did you--"

"You can't decide any of this without talking to Pepper, man," Rhodey says. "You know that."

Tony looks at her, lost, and she comes to him and presses him to sit again. She lays Morgan in his lap; his daughter snuggles into him and his arms go around her reflexively, tears spilling from his eyes as he looks to Pepper, sitting down in the chair facing him. "Pep, I can't--but there's the whole fucking universe of kids who--"

Pepper nods. "Rhodey told me what you're debating. So I can tell you the number, if you want it. The best available estimates of how many kids Morgan's age and younger died in the week after."

"That's not," Tony says, tipping his head back. "Helping."

"It's helping be absolutely sure that you can't do this halfway," Pepper says briskly, though her eyes are pink too. "This is the whole universe, Tony, and we've gotta save it right. And that means we've got to make sure _we're_ sure we're not leaving behind anything we can't live without."

Tony picks his head up, more at her tone than her words. "What..."

"You can't undo the last five years without undoing Morgan," Pepper says, gesturing to Tony. "And--"

When her hand tilts toward Rhodey he says, "You don't want me for this, Tones. Even in a suit--the injuries I've already got, and the amount of nerve linkage I've got with the suit to be able to move it, means that with power like the stones running through the suit and through me, I'm more vulnerable than Clint is. And if any of us fail, we all fail. The whole thing fails."

"And also we don't want you to die," Pepper says firmly, over her shoulder to Rhodey.

"Also we don't want you to die," Tony says, the words coming out like a rote repetition, but his eyes burning. He looks rapidly back and forth from Rhodey to Pepper, then down at Morgan. "What--how--"

"I'll be with you in the circle around the stones, so time won't turn back for me. It won't turn back for any of us who are there around the stones. You've already built me a suit," Pepper says. "You've already built me a lot of suits. We emptied out the garage, Happy's unloading them in the workshop right now. You just need to get one suit ready to do the whole job tomorrow. That's what you made it for, isn't it? That's what you named my suit."

Tony looks down at Morgan in his lap, closes his eyes, and holds her tighter as he whispers, " _Rescue_."

* * *

When they reassemble in the morning, back by the time travel stage, Steve, Thor, Clint, and Bruce all exchange wary glances with each other when they see Pepper by Tony's side. A quick look around reveals Morgan outside, being swung by the hands between Rhodey and Happy. 

"Change of plans?" Steve asks, his tone flat.

"Just a substitution," Tony says, not meeting anyone's eyes. "Pep for Rhodey. We decided it's better this way."

"As long as we're together," Pepper says, with a brave, slightly wobbly smile. "We can do it."

"It's not just the doing," Clint says, looking back and forth from the two of them to their child. Neither Tony nor Pepper looks toward Morgan at all. "It's meaning it. We all gotta mean it, the exact same thing. We have to be completely unified, with each other and with ourselves."

Pepper just nods, Tony finally looks up and meets Clint's eyes. "Yeah. We know. We're together on this. We rewind to before the Snap, save everybody's kids, not just ours."

Clint's eyes narrow a little; he glances toward Morgan again, then relaxes slightly. The others, watching him, seem to accept his silent verdict: Tony and Pepper won't need further persuading.

"So we're agreed," Bruce says, his tone still faintly questioning. "We turn back time for the whole universe to before the Snap. Everyone but us goes back to where they were, and only we still remember."

"Yep, that's the first step," Tony says. "Second step, take out Thanos and his armies. Which is why I think step zero needs to be getting our asses to Wakanda, because if we blow the circuits on step one and can't use the stones for step two, we'd better be on the spot to stop Thanos the old-fashioned way."

No one has any argument against that.

It's only when they're on the Quinjet that Steve, looking thoughtfully from Clint to Thor to Bruce, says idly, "You know, usually wishes come in threes."

* * *

Okoye is waiting for them with vibranium body armor for Clint. She leads them to the place they'd decided on--now just a clearing near an outcropping of rock. There is nothing to mark it as the place half the universe was murdered. 

After looking around and debating sightlines, they go to the top of the rocks, where they'll have a view of Thanos's position and the battlefield, and then it's time.

Tony dons his suit and Pepper hers, and Rhodey hurriedly turns away; just at that moment it doesn't occur to Steve, Thor, or Bruce to be sure that he's still carrying Morgan as he had been a moment ago. Clint carefully doesn't look.

They're all focused on the case Tony opens, holding six red metal pieces, each holding one of the stones. They're wedge-shaped, so they'll all fit together to form a circle, and each has a grip on the outside. 

"Holy shit," Clint breathes. "We're gonna save the universe with a _Trivial Pursuit pie_."

"It is not," Tony starts, while Bruce is startled into a laugh and Pepper says, "I told you you should've gone with a different shape if you didn't want anyone to make that joke."

Steve and Thor share a look of resigned bafflement, not too concerned. There will be time to find out after, if they survive until after.

They take up their chosen stones. Bruce takes the Time stone, which he feels a special responsibility for--and which they all suspect will be drawn on the hardest for this first task. Thor takes the Reality stone and stands at his right; Clint, his expression turning grim, picks up the Soul stone. 

Steve, feeling the circularity of it, picks up the Space stone, gaze locked on the familiar glowing blue, and takes his place beside Clint. Tony takes up the Mind stone and stands at Bruce's other side, which leaves Pepper with the Power stone, completing the circle between Steve and Tony. 

Her suit, Steve notices, is big and bulky, even bigger than Tony's. He happens to catch Tony's eye across her, and Tony gives a wry little smile and says, "Can't build in too much padding."

Steve smiles tentatively back, and hopes, again, that they're right to believe that Tony and Pepper will be able to stick with their single purpose.

They take a collective breath, and then Tony and Pepper close their faceplates, and Steve and Thor settle themselves into fighting postures. Steve holds his left hand where everyone can see it and counts off seconds with his fingers, and just as they'd practiced on the Quinjet, everyone moves at once, shouting together, " _Turn back time_ ," as they slam the blades holding the Stones into a perfect unbroken circle.

Energy rushes out of the stones and around them, enclosing all six in a rainbow of arcing, writhing light. Okoye and Rhodey and the Quinjet disappear in the first instant, as around them the world seems to flash backward through nights and days and seasons. Pepper's scream starts first, but it's not long before they're all yelling with her, Bruce roaring and his body wobbling between states, all six of them shaking, the joined stones wobbling between them as their hands tremble and jerk.

But they don't break apart, not until the light dies and they all fall silent. Bruce is still his blended self, and they're all on their feet, blinking at each other in wonder.

Then they all register the roar of the battle going on around them.

"Oh God," Pepper breathes. "Oh God, Tony, are we sure--"

"Friday," Tony says harshly, overriding her breathy uncertainty. "Lay the egg."

Steve stares, bewildered, as a part of Pepper's suit detaches and forms into an egg-shaped pod, which rolls away from them--toward the fighting, toward the forces starting to turn in their direction, but out of range of the energy of the stones.

Steve looks down and sees Thanos looking around, momentarily bewildered at the disappearance of most of his opponents, the gauntlet glittering. Wanda is still on her knees before him, struggling for one more effort--and there, where he'd been hidden by the trees when Steve was down on the ground below with Thanos, is Bucky, running toward Thanos to join the fray. Steve looks up and sees the shape of Sam flying in the air--and there, War Machine, already turning and diving toward them.

" _Second wish_ ," Thor roars, and all six of them move into alignment again, readying the blades. Thor counts them in this time, and this time as they drive the stones together they shout as one, " _Thanos and his forces to ashes._ "

Again the crackling light engulfs them, circling and burning as it goes, but none of them scream this time, though they all stagger as they break apart to see their will take form around them. Steve nearly falls to his knees, but Clint, his Wakandan armor still glowing faintly purple, catches him and keeps him upright.

The armies of foot soldiers crumble as they run, and ships and gliders fall out of the sky in a harmless rain of dust. Below them, Wanda staggers to her feet over Vision's body, and Bucky reaches the clearing, just in time for them both to watch as Thanos himself crumbles to nothing--last to go is the gauntlet, his fingers shaping to snap even as they fall apart.

In the silence, Steve's breathing is loud, and so is Pepper's through her suit. Tony is focused on her; Clint's eyes are scanning the battlefield. Thor and Bruce are watching Steve. 

"Oh, shit," Clint says, sounding awed, and Steve straightens to follow his gaze--to a head of platinum blond hair in a chin-length bob. Natasha, rewound along with the rest of the universe outside the circle, is there on the battlefield as she was five years ago, now running toward them. 

Rhodey is already on the ground, Sam standing over him with wings extended. The gleaming blue pod--outlined in Rhodey's HUD by blinking arrows and the words COME AND GET ME, UNCLE RHODEY--opens under Rhodey's hands to reveal Morgan, curled up asleep. There's a folded piece of paper tucked under her cheek with Rhodey's name on it.

Rhodey glances toward the circle of figures, Tony in red and someone who must be Pepper in blue, and whispers, "What the hell, man," as he picks up the note.

At the top of the rocks, the six are gathering themselves again.

"Third wish," Steve says, determined. "Come on. We can do this."

A ripple goes through the others, but none hesitate to face each other again, to raise hands dirty with ash one more time, bringing the stones into alignment again. Steve's hand shakes a little as he counts the timing, but his voice is as steady as the others as they shout, " _From the ashes, those Thanos killed for the stones!_ "

The light of the stones races around them again, shaking them harder than ever, as others rush toward them--Bucky and Wanda from below, Sam from above, Natasha, Groot, and Rocket racing over the ground with Okoye and T'Challa closing in from the other side. Rhodey stands over Morgan's pod, watching.

Nebula, killed first and last, rises from her father's ashes in the clearing below, and a breath later Vision rises beside her, and then Gamora takes shape beside him.

All those originally killed in the battle are getting to their feet on the field, and then, in a flash of green and gold, Loki is standing among them, looking around in bafflement, and then Heimdall stands up behind him, gold eyes gleaming as he focuses on the whirlwind of rainbow light perched on an outcrop of stone.

Pepper starts to scream again, her hand shaking, threatening to break the Power stone away from the others; from either side hands dart in to steady hers, both moving by instant reflex. Steve's bare hand and Tony's, gauntleted, cover her grip, fingers interlaced. Neither of them makes a sound, and the fire of lights continues to swirl around them.

More people are rising on the battlefield, a white-haired man who blinks away from the scene as soon as he forms, and then Asgardians by the dozens, and men and women in blue Nova Corps uniforms, more and more stretching away across the land, until it seems as if there might be no end of victims rising up from the ashes.

But there is a limit to the ashes, and to the fire driving them to rise. 

Steve staggers again, and Tony makes a short, sharp sound and drops to his knees, wrenching the stones apart. The fire dies from around them and Steve falls the rest of the way to the ground while Rhodey, faceplate opens, runs up to Tony, shouting and pulling him back from the others. 

Pepper's suit melts away from her and she follows, tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Tony, I thought I had it, I thought I could--"

Her hands are steady, helping Rhodey get the suit open; Tony, inside, is blue-pale, eyes fixed, burns black on the side of his face. 

" _Medic!_ " Okoye shouts above them, just as a gold-edged portal opens beside them. Doctor Strange steps through, Peter Parker and the Guardians tumbling after him. Strange kneels beside Tony and says, "I'm a doctor, actually."

* * *

Steve is already pushing himself up when Sam and Bucky reach him, each of them grabbing an arm to pull him up. He's gasping, his face covered in ash, blood trickling from his nose and the corner of his mouth, and his left hand is shiny-red with burns and trembling. Still, he smiles and tries to pull them both closer at once. "We did it. Oh, God, we did it."

"I don't know what you did, but I know _you_ need a medic," Sam says, tugging back to look Steve over while Bucky steps under his arm, bearing his weight.

"No, no, I'm fine," Steve says, already shifting his left hand out of sight as he tries to flex it. "Just gotta catch my breath. God, it's good to see you guys."

* * *

Natasha runs directly into Clint's arms and they cling to each other without words for a long, long moment. 

Finally her fingers move up to tousle his hair in its mohawk. "I took my eyes off you for two seconds, Barton."

"Yeah, well," Clint laughs hollowly. "Shouldn't've done that, you know I'll get the drop on you."

"I'll get it right back," she says, pulling back enough to meet his eyes, her brow creased in puzzlement as her eyes move over him, cataloging every change; it doesn't seem impossible that she'll read the entire last five years off his face. 

"Yeah," he says hoarsely. "Yeah, you did. But I got you back again anyway."

* * *

Heimdall looks at Loki, who is still staring around him with an air of bemusement, and then turns his head and squints at something far distant, then back at Loki. 

"Why," he says slowly, "are there two of you, who are both entirely you."

"Oh, well," Loki says, turning a smile on him, though Heimdall's unamused look says he sees through that blitheness. "I have my little--"

" _Brother!_ " Thor roars, all but tackling Loki with his hug. 

Asgardians are gathering around them, starting to shout about how the king has saved them, saved all of them--and those on the edge of the crowd spot Bruce hesitating to join them. There are murmurs of interest at his new appearance, halfway between Hulk and man, but they all recognize him and someone cries, "Hulk! Hulk! We are saved!"

"Yeah," Bruce says shyly, moving to join them, reaching out hesitantly to clasp the hands reaching for him, his smile slowly spreading as he remembers saving them in the evacuation from the Rainbow Bridge, all those years ago--just a couple of weeks, for them. "Yeah, we made it. We're here, we're on Earth. We all made it home."

* * *

"Gamora? Is that--are you--" Peter can only stare down at her for a moment, while she looks up at him. "What the hell happened?"

"I have no idea," Gamora says, and looks to Nebula. "Do you know?"

Nebula rubs her head, where the copper gleams again in its curve. "I know some of it. It's... a long story."

"Well, hey," Peter says, "looks like everything's cool now, so we probably got time for you to tell it."

* * *

All over the battlefield people are looking around, dazed, embracing those they thought lost. Life, teeming and crowded and chaotic, abounds.

* * *

Steve comes to visit Tony in the Stark-Potts's room in the palace. Tony is sitting up in bed; his face and neck bear vivid red scars from the burns, and there are monitors attached to his chest, gauging whether the latest repairs to his heart are sufficient.

Morgan is perched on his lap, three years old, safe and sound in a world where she was never born. 

Steve smiles at her and offers her a bright flower he'd picked on his way, and she beams and accepts it, turning to offer it to Tony. He tucks it into her hair and kisses her forehead before murmuring something in her ear that makes her giggle and slide down from the bed to scamper off.

Steve lowers himself gingerly into a chair, and rubs at his own chest when he's settled. Tony spots the gesture--and the way Steve keeps his left arm and hand tucked against his side--and his eyes narrow. "You sure you don't need someone to look at that? You've gotta have taken as much extra juice as I did, or more."

"I'm fine," Steve says, smiling. "Just takes a little time, but the serum will fix me up. I think I'm just... tired. These last five years, it's a lot to come back from."

"And to everybody else we sound like we had a really vivid nightmare," Tony agrees. "Yeah. I know the drill, I'm still not sure Happy's not just humoring us. Although the kid makes a pretty convincing souvenir. You, uh--you manage to explain it to Wilson? And..."

"Buck gets it," Steve says, with a wry smile at Tony's hesitation over Bucky's name. "They both do, as much as they can. But... there's only the six of us, who really know."

"Yeah," Tony says, still studying Steve thoughtfully. "Well. I definitely know about being tired. Gonna have to tap out of this superhero thing for real, after all this." Tony waves at his body, indicating the damage visible and invisible.

"Yeah," Steve says, looking down. "Yeah, I figured you'd have to."

Tony studies him for a few more seconds then says, "You know, if you're tired of it, you could too." 

"There's so much," Steve says, then winces and rubs at his chest again. "I just gotta shake this off, that's all."

"Steve," Tony says. "You gave the shield up once, for somebody else. You ever think maybe you could give it up for yourself?"

His glance at Steve's left arm, still tucked at his side, telegraphs the _Can you even carry the shield like that?_ he refrains from speaking aloud.

"One guy's only expected to make the sacrifice play _once_ , isn't he? You've made it how many times? Let somebody else do the thing. Lay down on the wire. You've had your turn."

"So now, what," Steve says, looking up at Tony, honestly uncertain. "I've... I've never been the guy who just cuts the wire."

"Well," Tony says, patting his hand. "You'll figure it out. But take it from me, sometimes it's not such a bad thing to just fight for yourself."

* * *

Bucky and Sam are waiting outside when Steve walks out of Tony's rooms, looking thoughtful.

"Yep," Bucky says, grabbing Steve by the back of his collar before Steve can react. "That's it. You're seeing a doctor."

"I'm not," Steve says. "I don't--"

"Oh, you do," Sam says, grabbing his left arm above the elbow and much more gently catching his left hand, still red and scarred. "You're not healing and you know it. You planning on just dying before you admit something's wrong?"

"Wouldn't be the first time he tried that," Bucky growls, and Steve abruptly digs in his heels.

"I'm not--it's not that." To their twin skeptical looks he says, "It's _not!_ It's just--" Steve runs his right hand through his hair, blows out a breath. "It's just, I don't know if I want them to fix this. Whatever this is."

"Uh, if you tell me you're literally okay dying and not just being a stubborn idiot, we are having a whole other talk," Sam says. 

Steve shakes his head, restlessly flexes his left hand and winces. "Not--not dying, I don't want--but I don't want them to just--"

Bucky's expression softens, and he steps in closer, giving Steve a gentle shake and letting Steve lean on him at the same time. "Why d'you think I stayed here? Why d'you think I never wore my arm until I had to? I know how it feels not to want to be a weapon anymore, Steve. You don't have to stay hurt too bad to fight. You can just say you're done fighting."

"I just," Steve says quietly. "If they can fix me, I--"

"Nope," Sam says. "Don't know if you noticed, but Earth's got a _lot_ of heroes these days. We can probably manage without one old man."

Steve huffs out a breath and looks over at Sam. "We? You're still in it, then? Even if I..."

"Somebody's got to," Sam says. "And I think I'm pretty well ruined for a nine to five these days, so, yeah. Might as well."

"Me too, maybe," Bucky says, giving a shrug that draws the eye to his left arm, still attached though the fighting has been over for days. "This was a jolt, you know? I got a little more fight left in me, maybe. So now all I gotta do is teach you how to cover the chores when I'm gone."

"Sounds pretty easy," Sam says.

"You'd think," Bucky says. "But we both died the first time before I ever taught him to wash dishes before the flies got to them."

"I could," Steve says, looking back and forth between them, and Bucky shakes his head and gets a grip on Steve's collar again.

"You can come see the doctor, is what you can do, and let them make sure you're not gonna keep getting worse, even if you're not gonna get all the way better. After that you can do whatever the hell you want."

"Yeah?" Steve says, walking down the hallway between them, no longer having to be pulled along. "That'll be a change, won't it?"

* * *

THE END


End file.
